At the Edge of the Woods

January 1, 2024

After 15 years as police chief in Loon Lake, WI, Lewellyn Ferris is elected sheriff of Northwoods County. She prefers to moonlight as a fly-fishing instructor, but duty calls most days. When an obnoxious dentist is shot on the pickleball courts one morning, everyone is quick to jump to the conclusion that he was murdered. But Lew has seen too many accidental gun deaths to make that assumption. She hears a great deal of gossip about the dead man's family and his lack of professionalism, but nothing points to murder. However, a second shooting and the death of another pickleball player changes her mind. This time, there's a witness who saw someone running with a gun, and the victim was shot twice. One death might have been an accident, but two of them seems unlikely. Why would someone target pickleball players? VERDICT The mystery is slight in this follow-up to Hidden in the Pines. However, fans will appreciate the emphasis on the Northwoods and the peace and tranquility of fly-fishing.--Lesa Holstine

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March 1, 2024
Fishing, pickleball, and murder in the Northwoods of Wisconsin. McBride County Sheriff Lewellyn Ferris is called to a remote pickleball court where a man has been shot dead. Formerly the head of the Loon Lake police, Lew has plenty of experience but still calls on her coterie of experts. The dead man is wealthy dentist Bert Willoughby, and the person who reported the crime is Robin Carpenter, his pickleball partner. Lew, who's also a well-known fly-fishing teacher, has plenty of contacts in the area eager to tell her how many people wanted Willoughby dead. The morning coffee crew that includes retired dentist Paul Osborne, Lew's significant other, is a particular font of knowledge on local gossip. Notified of his death, Willoughby's wife, June, puts first things first, visiting their lawyer to find out where she stands financially, though not before she reaches out to her daughter, Katherine, a dentist who works in her father's practice. The two women are furious when the lawyer reveals that Willoughby had recently sold his dental practice with the proviso that Katherine be kept on as an employee; had filed papers to divorce June, though he hadn't told her yet; and, planning to marry Robin, had rewritten his will to leave most of his money to her. June is so angry that she refuses to listen to Katherine's explanation that Robin was his pickleball partner and not his office assistant, who's also named Robin. At first Lew thinks that Willoughby's death was one of those unfortunate accidents involving a bullet that's traveled a long distance, but when Robin--the pickleball player--is also shot dead, her opinion shifts along with the suspect list. A meager mystery, but the sterling cast of characters and fishing minutiae provide an interesting read.

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